Long Beach-based Lavender Beat Collective has shared its first track with the release of the spacey and meandering “The Path.” Not so much a band but rather a creative habit, one that’s made-up of a rotating cast of international musicians, the collective was founded by vocalist/producer Tien Nguyen (SAÍGO, Kan Wakan) and drummer/producer Max Macveety (Bunky, Shots Fired, Crown City Rockers, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe). Together they host Lavender Beat Collective as a weekly collaboration session that seeks to create soul-assuaging and spacey tunes that also highlights each guest musician’s own unique traditions and experiences.
This post may contain affiliate links. Ads and affiliate links are how independent blogs like Grimy Goods can operate and pay our staff. Thank you for supporting our work and being a part of our music community.
For “The Path,” the Lavender Beat Collective is pieced together by artists from Nigeria, Brazil, and the United States. The track also reveals its genre-eclecticism: combining rapid afrobeat with instrumentals that draw on everything from R&B and jazz to desert blues. Lush percussion provided by Samson Olawale and Max Macveety fills the background as a mixture of flutes (Nguyen), horns (Evandro Hasse), and sublime keys (Nicolas James Scott) scatter themselves across the song’s thrilling melodies. While Cooper Appelt’s bass and Shea Allen Springer’s guitar keep you winding down a path of verdant and breathy vocals via singers Dominique Toney, Jessica Childress, and Nguyen.
“All of the good yet to come / awaits on the path you’ve begun. Whether you win or you lose / it’s never too late or too soon,” the group coos solemnly over every dazzling tone. “The Path” serves as a sort of general meditation on a journey begun, a way to bolster yourself to keep moving forward. Every twist and turn of the song’s ever-changing and kinetic melody serves as a reminder of the way life’s paths can appear chaotic or frantic — yet beauty still remains to be found. For Lavender Beat Collective founder Nguyen, part of that goal involves creating sustainable methods for international collaboration between musicians.
“‘The Path’ is a proof-of-concept for a sustainable & intentional musical ecosystem. We collaborate remotely across continents and cultures, meeting every week to create the sounds we’re most excited to hear,” Nguyen said. “Our goal is to channel the beauty and balance of nature and apply it to the digital age, while promoting a diversity of instruments, live music, and mindfulness. Throughout the production of the song, we imagined the group as a live band, and hopefully we’ll all find a way to play a show together soon. Perhaps the song is partly a message to ourselves, as well as our listeners: ‘All of the good yet to come awaits on the path you’ve begun.'”
Visit Lavender Beat Collective on their Soundcloud to stay updated on new releases. Follow the band members on their respective social platforms: SAIGO, Max MacVeety, Dominique Ariel Toney, Jessica Childress, Cooper Appelt, Nicolas James Scott, Samson Olawale, Evandro Hasse, and Shea Allen Springer.
Words by Steven Ward
Listen to Lavender Beat Collective’s new single “The Path” below!
